Reaching the tipping point?

The heat appears to be coming off home prices, albeit very slightly. Nationally, values rose 6.4 percent annually in April, down from a 6.5 percent gain the previous month, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller National Home Price Index.

The nation’s 10 largest cities saw price gains of 6.2 percent in April, down from 6.4 percent in the previous month. The 20-City Composite posted a 6.6 percent year-over-year gain, down from 6.7 percent in the previous month.

“Home prices continued their climb,” said David M. Blitzer, managing director and chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices. “Cities west of the Rocky Mountains continue to lead price increases with Seattle, Las Vegas, and San Francisco ranking 1-2-3 based on price movements in the trailing 12 months. The favorable economy and moderate mortgage rates both support recent gains in housing.”

The biggest factor heating home prices is the pervasive shortage of homes for sale. Supply is increasing very slightly month-to-month, but is still considerably lower than one year ago.

Ten of the top 20 cities are currently higher than their peaks from 2006, not accounting for inflation. The national index is also above its last peak.

“However, if one adjusts the price movements for inflation since 2006, a very different picture emerges,” noted Blitzer. “Only three cities – Dallas, Denver, and Seattle – are ahead in real, or inflation-adjusted, terms. The National Index is 14 percent below its boom-time peak and Las Vegas, the city with the longest road to a new high, is 47 percent below its peak when inflation is factored in.”

Homebuyers are pulling away from this summer’s expensive and competitive housing market, even as interest rates settle. Total mortgage application volume fell 4.9 percent, seasonally adjusted, last week compared with the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. There were 12 percent fewer applications compared with the same week one year ago.

Applications for mortgages to purchase a home led the decline, falling 6 percent for the week. More new listings are coming on the market this summer, but buyers are bumping up against high prices and multiple offers. Cash buyers often have the upper hand, as sellers would rather not deal with appraisals that might not meet those higher prices.

If June is anything like May, demand is still high, but sales will be lower. A monthly demand index from real estate brokerage Redfin found the same number of people were requesting home tours in May as in April, but the number of buyers making offers fell 16.7 percent year over year.

“People listing their homes for sale in higher numbers this April and May is good news for buyers, and good news for home sales,” said Redfin’s head of analytics, Pete Ziemkiewicz. “But it’s still not enough to satisfy buyer demand, which means price increases will likely continue.”

You can look at this as positive or negative. I look at this as an extremely positive sign for the market. No hysteria…aka no bubble. These current prices are as real as it gets. People are not going crazy and artificially pushing up the price.

Homebuyers are pulling away from this summer’s expensive and competitive housing market, even as interest rates settle. Total mortgage application volume fell 4.9 percent, seasonally adjusted, last week compared with the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. There were 12 percent fewer applications compared with the same week one year ago.

as said the other day, the dynamics of your town may blow, but
i can see it town over with split between boomers/townies/rightwingers on one side and young/bluewave/wealthy group on the other. past few yrs splits on 1/3, flat lots have been going from 400k to 600k to be teardown and 6 months later is a new chc for 1.3m. good luck finding a house this summer

anonymous fighting on towns facebook with boomers desperately and bitterly complaining about changes. unwilling to pay taxes but most of them sucking govt tit, put kids thru excellent public school system and now receiving Medicare. all day watching Fox News realizing they can’t compete in the new world and finding out that riding their future only on Privilege might not work after all as the new arrivals from Brooklyn are kicking them out of town and are voting on strong schools and higher taxes

needless to say that town is thriving as Brooklyn blue wave arrives and rightwint townies diedoff

The fastest growing part of the Democrat party are the third world ers. They have a proclivity for soci@lism. And I’m not talking about high achievers from the east. This is
What decades of identity politics have wrought. An absolute basket case that can’t appeal broadly.

Thank you William. The unit that sold for $450,000 a few weeks ago previously sold for $398,000 in 2015. So looks like 3b caught red handed datamining a distressed non-comparable situation to mislead njrereport readers.. Why so much hate, 3b?

What you call a democratic moderate, I call a “Rockefeller Republican” wearing democratic clothing. This third way Corporatist/ Clinton started/Koch Bros financed (look it up) in the dems is DOA.

The Clinton’s Dems is the same as the 75 Rockefeller’s GOP. All is happening is the true Democratic based asserting itself and getting rid of corporatist.

I have to give credit to the Koch Bros’s strategy. They first spent money in dems, by financing the third way/democratic leadership council and kill its labor wing and moved the democratic party way to the right in economics/finance. This move than open the way to the gop to go full tilt lunatic right and touch ground no one would think possible 30 yrs ago, in fact is a miracle that they have not brought up legal slavery, even though we have something close “student loan debt slavery”.

nwnj says:
June 27, 2018 at 7:57 am
No place for moderates in the rotten pos Democrat party. Open borders and soci@lism – take it or leave it.

Yo no hate I saw the listing there was no indication of foreclosure or short sale and I posted it. Turns out more to the story. As for the comparable that sold in April at 450k thats fine. But let’s not forget the one I posted sold for 500k in o5. 13 years later and the comparable is now 450k. I don’t hate real estate. Just not a fan of nj real estate with some exceptions. I love Harrison!

“I have to give credit to the Koch Bros’s strategy. They first spent money in dems, by financing the third way/democratic leadership council and kill its labor wing and moved the democratic party way to the right in economics/finance. This move than open the way to the gop to go full tilt lunatic right and touch ground no one would think possible 30 yrs ago, in fact is a miracle that they have not brought up legal slavery, even though we have something close “student loan debt slavery”.”

Very Stable Genius says:
June 27, 2018 at 8:33 am
as said the other day, the dynamics of your town may blow, but
i can see it town over with split between boomers/townies/rightwingers on one side and young/bluewave/wealthy group on the other. past few yrs splits on 1/3, flat lots have been going from 400k to 600k to be teardown and 6 months later is a new chc for 1.3m. good luck finding a house this summer

anonymous fighting on towns facebook with boomers desperately and bitterly complaining about changes. unwilling to pay taxes but most of them sucking govt tit, put kids thru excellent public school system and now receiving Medicare. all day watching Fox News realizing they can’t compete in the new world and finding out that riding their future only on Privilege might not work after all as the new arrivals from Brooklyn are kicking them out of town and are voting on strong schools and higher taxes

needless to say that town is thriving as Brooklyn blue wave arrives and rightwint townies diedoff

Yo! says:
June 27, 2018 at 8:50 am
Thank you William. The unit that sold for $450,000 a few weeks ago previously sold for $398,000 in 2015. So looks like 3b caught red handed datamining a distressed non-comparable situation to mislead njrereport readers.. Why so much hate, 3b?

Pumps you sniveling little weasel kiss my arse! I posted I was corrected. End of story. But you did skip over the 450k in 18 vs the 500k in 05. Yeah just ignore that. As for schools STFU!! I never said what you accuse me of. I said they are over rated and they are. Put your kid through the system before you actually earn the right to comment on them. Don’t attack me in a pathetic attempt to getting a blog friend. Now back to ignoring you.

Got to love Murphy he wants to raise the sales tax but as far as when the exchange for the raise in gas tax …”that was a deal Christie made with the legislature it never should been made ” ….by the way the gas tax will be increased another 3c later in the year …

More Winning …
In major blow to organized labor, Supreme Court says public employee unions may not charge fees to nonmembers
by Washington Post Staff June 27 at 10:05 AM

The case has major implications for the future of organized labor, which has become a pillar of Democratic Party politics, and for the millions of workers in the nearly half of states that authorize payments from nonmembers to cover the cost of collective bargaining.

This is ridiculous. So someone that opts out of paying dues, still gets the same wages and benefits as paying members? Wtf? Opt out, but you should have to negotiate on your own for raises and benefits.

This is nothing more than another attack on labor paid for by people like the Koch brothers who hate workers.

So selfish. Why would you cheer this on? I thought you were about making America great again…..oh that’s right, workers don’t count, only business owners and rich people. Got it!

dentss dunnigan says:
June 27, 2018 at 10:11 am
More Winning …
In major blow to organized labor, Supreme Court says public employee unions may not charge fees to nonmembers
by Washington Post Staff June 27 at 10:05 AM

This is ridiculous. So someone that opts out of paying dues, still gets the same wages and benefits as paying members? Wtf? Opt out, but you should have to negotiate on your own for raises and benefits.

The NJEA isn’t a Union, it’s a political action committee.

Why should a Republican teacher be forced to pay money that will go towards supporting Democratic candidates?

Do they want a good job? Well they better stop aligning themselves with a party hell bent on hurting the worker to help corporations.

grim says:
June 27, 2018 at 10:22 am
This is ridiculous. So someone that opts out of paying dues, still gets the same wages and benefits as paying members? Wtf? Opt out, but you should have to negotiate on your own for raises and benefits.

The NJEA isn’t a Union, it’s a political action committee.

Why should a Republican teacher be forced to pay money that will go towards supporting Democratic candidates?

3b says:
June 27, 2018 at 9:47 am
Pumps you sniveling little weasel kiss my arse! I posted I was corrected. End of story. But you did skip over the 450k in 18 vs the 500k in 05. Yeah just ignore that. As for schools STFU!! I never said what you accuse me of. I said they are over rated and they are. Put your kid through the system before you actually earn the right to comment on them. Don’t attack me in a pathetic attempt to getting a blog friend. Now back to ignoring you.

Go ask all the non-union workers how they like their job, compensation, benefits, and retirement plan.

I’m good with it – very appreciative and thankful for the annual comp increase, bonus, flex schedule, benefits and 401K match. There’s no union and no government involvement which is why we’re successful and profitable. We produce something here. Everyone works and earns.

The Original NJ ExPat says:
June 5, 2018 at 9:33 am
Chi – Something I’m noticing under the main trend: REITs up, Financials falling? That seems like something you’d see in a falling rate environment, right? Is the market signaling equity weakness and bond strength ahead, at least for the US market?

What do you constantly hear on this board? People complaining about lack of raises, no pension, and horrible insurance. These same people complain about unions. See the problem?

Fast Eddie says:
June 27, 2018 at 10:31 am
Go ask all the non-union workers how they like their job, compensation, benefits, and retirement plan.

I’m good with it – very appreciative and thankful for the annual comp increase, bonus, flex schedule, benefits and 401K match. There’s no union and no government involvement which is why we’re successful and profitable. We produce something here. Everyone works and earns.

And what exactly are you doing right now? Try making a call 5 years in advance.

The Original NJ ExPat says:
June 27, 2018 at 10:48 am
Hmmm…

If my name was Pumps I’d be talking about my “call”.

The Original NJ ExPat says:
June 5, 2018 at 9:33 am
Chi – Something I’m noticing under the main trend: REITs up, Financials falling? That seems like something you’d see in a falling rate environment, right? Is the market signaling equity weakness and bond strength ahead, at least for the US market?

I just don’t understand how regular working class people could be celebrating the demise of unions. Just blows my mind. And then these same people have the nerve to complain about lousy pay raises and working conditions in their place of employment. SMH.

Another “call” made mere days before the top. Not spot on (yet), but not too bad for 1/22/18, right?

The Original NJ ExPatsays:
January 22, 2018 at 2:59 pm****Disclosure: Sheer conjecture on my part*****

1. The US stock market will “correct”, as they say from maybe April until August or so.
2. Dems will tout the end of the “Trump Economic Lie” during this period.
3. The US stock market will turn back up in late August or early September.
4. Dems get crushed in the mid-terms.
5. More protests and violence isolated to cities that still want Hillary.

Bergen County market is extremely divided. Not every town has appreciated at the same rate since the financial crisis. Most split I have ever seen in my 37 years as a licensed real estate broker/agent. Fort Lee and Tenafly have been far stronger markets than River Edge. Among the weakest markets in Bergen are Franklin Lakes and Upper Saddle River.

Blue ribbons train town only one on a busy street. If I get the notion I will post some sold listings that were below their sales prices in 04 through 08. If you bought in the last decade plus you are sucking wind in terms of appreciation even in a blue ribbon train town.

“Try making a call 5 months in advance.”….”Platinum, Pasta, and Prius batteries will go up in nominal dollars. Also Hormel Chili.”

Ex, seriously, why do you even try to reason with someone who believes a five year directional call after a huge move is easier than a five day, week, or month call, usually with actionable specificity?

Or who is 40 years old and ‘invests’ in penny stocks, believes inflation is wealth building, and disucsses his wife’s s3xual skills on a public forum?

“Bergen County market is extremely divided. Not every town has appreciated at the same rate since the financial crisis. Most split I have ever seen in my 37 years as a licensed real estate broker/agent.”

Have some good anecdata on same I’ll post later. Need to get a few things done first. Weird RE market.

-Bergen County market is extremely divided. Not every town has appreciated at the same rate since the financial crisis. Most split I have ever seen in my 37 years as a licensed real estate broker/agent. Fort Lee and Tenafly (immigrant speculators) have been far stronger markets than River Edge (middle class). Among the weakest markets in Bergen are Franklin Lakes and Upper Saddle River (mid-management and professional class).

You and others called me an idiot at the time I made the calls. Now it happens, and it was an obvious easy call? Are you f’ing serious? All that heat I took, and you come up with bs like this.

leftwing says:
June 27, 2018 at 11:50 am
“Try making a call 5 months in advance.”….”Platinum, Pasta, and Prius batteries will go up in nominal dollars. Also Hormel Chili.”

Ex, seriously, why do you even try to reason with someone who believes a five year directional call after a huge move is easier than a five day, week, or month call, usually with actionable specificity?

Or who is 40 years old and ‘invests’ in penny stocks, believes inflation is wealth building, and disucsses his wife’s s3xual skills on a public forum?

Doubt it has much of an impact. Paying union dues to njea is cheap insurance. You get access to their lawyers if something goes wrong. Why would you willingly waive this protection? You would have to be a combination of cheap and stupid.

A Crowley insider told Politico that the campaign of the 10-term incumbent — and would-be future speaker of the House — underestimated the electorate’s volatility.

“About two weeks ago, three weeks ago, we had our last poll which had Joe up by about 35 points. So the electorate’s really volatile,” the insider said.
“(The) Crowley campaign had a huge field program, but it’s still a district where Bernie [Sanders] got almost 45 percent of the vote. We took it seriously, I mean we spent $1.5 million on it. … It was a bloodletting of Washington Democrats.”

Some analysts said the furor over President Trump’s immigration policy energized voters in the heavily Hispanic 14th Congressional District to go with the newcomer, who won easily with 57 percent of the vote to Crowley’s 42 percent.

Last weekend, just days before the primary, Ocasio-Cortez left New York to join protests at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Texas.

Ocasio-Cortez, a former organizer for Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign, ran on a sharply liberal agenda, including abolishing ICE and making Medicare a universal program.

Crowley became just the third sitting member of Congress, and the first Democratic incumbent, to lose a primary this year — less than five months before the midterm elections.

Before going down in flames, he was widely seen as a potential successor to Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

“Public unions are some of the most potent political forces in New Jersey, which is among the states with the highest proportion of public employees represented by unions — 63 percent, or nearly twice the national average. They spend millions each year on lobbying and campaign contributions while negotiating contracts and benefits on behalf of roughly 359,000 covered workers.”

Hopefully now, unions in NJ will become less political and focus on their god-given right to organize and represent their members without paying off politicians.

The Great Pumpkin says:
June 27, 2018 at 10:24 am
Who are these idiots? Are they real people? Why the hell would you shoot your own foot. I’m convinced some people are their own worst enemy. Can’t make this stuff up.

Nah, you don’t need that union. It hurts you. Go ask all the non-union workers how they like their job, compensation, benefits, and retirement plan. F’en morons. How can people be this stupid?

On Bergen real estate, Franklin Lakes and Upper Saddle river are taking it on the chin mostly because of weakness in the NJ job market. If you want to live in either of these places there is a good chance you are working in NJ not NYC. Great towns with good schools, nice lots and some nice housing but I think it more shows what bystander is saying about the job market. The ED to MD level jobs in the back office are evaporating, these are the people who take home 200k-700k and they are the ones buying 1m+ homes in North Jersey, other businesses are moving out of Jersey as well. When Mercedes leaves, when Reology moves staff the management positions leave as well and those are your FL and USR buyers. People fearing a job search need access to NYC job market and being closer to NYC and having access to the train are now must haves.

Between Ginsberg and Breyer there is at least a chance another justice get appointed in Trump’s term and that chance is much greater if he wins re-election in 2020. Democrats should be very angry with Ginsburg for not retiring during the Obama Administration.

Can’t believe you guys are so happy about the Supreme Court becoming so one sided. Do you know how dangerous that is? So much for checks and balances, and open debates. The govt is slowly being hijacked by a political ideology that is not embraced by the majority of the population. Crazy times. Follow the money!

Funny, some people claim he is an evil social!st. What is so evil about this message? Seems pretty good to me, what is so evil?

“To nobody’s surprise the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, sided with big money interests and against the needs of working people. Make no mistake about it: this decision is a direct assault on working families all over America. What the Koch brothers and other billionaires understand is that if they can destroy the trade union movement in America, it will make it even more difficult for workers to earn decent wages and benefits. Further, as the political power of working people is diminished, it will be much easier for corporate America and the Trump Administration to dismantle Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the Veterans Administration, the Postal Service, public education and virtually every law that has benefitted working people over the past 80 years. While today’s ruling is a major setback for working families, we must redouble our efforts to make it easier, not harder, to join a union. We cannot rebuild the disappearing middle class without revitalizing the trade union movement.” Bernie Sanders

Did I say the job market is not strong? Just today, I got a nice phone call from Indian gentleman who mispronounced my (common) first name and offered a great contract job in Augusta, ME. The only other company who seems even slightly interested (and willing to pay up) is one who wants me to outsource the rest of your m-fing jobs. My hope is that it is blump’s company. Ex Pat laughed at $60 hour but the most I am finding in $80 on W2 with zero benefits, vacation or 401k. That is for senior roles in NYC. In the burbs, you won’t even get $60. This economy is f-ed.

Most people here are happy about it Pumkin. You are just too blind to understand this is what the people want. The majority want it.

The Great Pumpkin says:
June 27, 2018 at 2:58 pm
Can’t believe you guys are so happy about the Supreme Court becoming so one sided. Do you know how dangerous that is? So much for checks and balances, and open debates. The govt is slowly being hijacked by a political ideology that is not embraced by the majority of the population. Crazy times. Follow the money

The Original NJ ExPat says:
June 5, 2018 at 9:33 am
Chi – Something I’m noticing under the main trend: REITs up, Financials falling? That seems like something you’d see in a falling rate environment, right? Is the market signaling equity weakness and bond strength ahead, at least for the US market?

I have no issue with the concept of a union organizing labor for a fair workplace. In NJ, the union collects a ton of money in fees and then pays the politician it likes most through endorsements in exchange for promises the state can’t afford. It’s hardly about an unfair work environment.

The way I see it is simple. The Koch brothers type have effectively killed off unions by means of divide and conquer.

They first concentrated on killing off private sector unions since they are not as strong as public unions. They then took a dump on non union workers compensation in the private sector. Taking away almost everything (pensions to raises, you name it). They knew the former private sector union workers, along with the non union private sector workers, would eventually turn on the public union workers out of spite and jeolousy (used human nature against one another).

The plan is working perfectly. Ask yourself this? Who are the only workers that support unions now? Yes, only people that are union workers themselves. And the propaganda has become so strong, that even union members like our resident “blue ribbon teacher” have turned against the union. The key here, they have to be indoctrinated and support conservatism at all costs to be in this position. No non conservative teacher will go against the union that has done so much for them, it’s only the hardcore conservative teachers that act like the union is harming them and they are better off without it.

This is an HONEST ANALYSIS of what’s happening with the labor movement. It has almost been crushed by the corporate lords.

My question, how long before these corporate lords take up the title of kings. They already behave exactly like monarchs from the past. Trying to control every aspect of society and the economy for themselves. It’s crazy, we are going backwards at a rapid pace. All these rights we fought for in society and the workplace are being given back on the basis of conservative propaganda that is nothing more than a complete power grab.

Is this really how we make America great again? What’s so great about this? SMH…

Yes, and why haven’t the millions of worjers getting killed right now striking?

I have an idea. The conservative propaganda has taken over society to the point where if you strike, you are a greedy worker. Only greedy people come together and strike. It’s so sad. We have indirectly given up our rights to protest when it comes to labor. They didn’t even need to make a law, they just brainwashed people into thinking that coming together to protest labor issues is a very bad thing…..simply amazing.

Libturd, AKA Dr. Howie Feltersnatch says:
June 27, 2018 at 4:28 pm
If things were that bad for teachers in NJ, they would strike over their pension.

It’s just crazy that the word union has become taboo in an era where people are constantly crying about their work compensation. Makes absolutely no sense. You got no raise, but in the same sentence, unions suck.

Not SmellyPumkin says:
June 27, 2018 at 4:43 pm
Pumpkin, I differ with you on what took down private union.
RICO did the damage, than politics and ideology followed up.

There is no way that WalMart, Target and Amazon would not be unionized like Caldor and Kmart used to be if the Mob was still powerful.

Walmart and Koch Bros can have lawyers and lobbyist, but they mean nothing when they are in the hospital or in a ditch.

The constitution is only words. There is no difinitive meaning behind them. The words are simply an interpretation based on an individual’s bias.

Why is it that you are so happy that you have conservative bias interpreting the constitution now?

The Original NJ ExPat says:
June 27, 2018 at 4:36 pm
One-sided, as in judges that actually read and understand The Constitution? You might want to put the word Originalist on your GED Summer study vocabulary list.

Parsippany-based Pinnacle Foods selling out to ConAgra. All the top Pinnacle execs will be whacked. I checked and the top execs all earn total comp of $1m+ and own big N.J. homes, mostly in Morris County. These homes will hit the market sooner or later, and the pool buyers is unlikely to be people taking newly created $1m jobs in Parsippany.

It’ll be interesting to see what happens to the profession of Teaching. My guess is that once the Union benefits of job security and tenure are whittled away, the pensions either gone or discontinued for new hires, you will see a whole new approach to finding teachers and paying them as little as possible. Unless of course you are in a good area and the schools are expected and required to excel. The the admins will climb all over themselves to find the best people. Ending tenure for administrators will be the best move and the whole house of cards will fall once that ends.

Currently the Profession of teaching is not about your kid, but about maintaining the ‘status quo’ of the good ol’ days. The past 30 years have seen administrators retiring with six figure pensions. Some teachers with say 30 plus years also, but living that long and being a teacher don’t seem to go hand-in-hand. Lots of obesity and bad eating habits when you spend your day with kids.

One of the most ignorant headlines by Forbes in its history. Why do states with unionized teachers have significantly better educational outcomes for students than right to work states? This is a perfect example of conservative propaganda towards labor.

FB on fire between SCOTUS ruling and retirement of Kennedy. Most people have n the private sector are indifferent or hostile to unions as the private sector eliminated them. Now these same people are asked to support state unions with their tax dollars for security and benefits long gone in the private sector. It’s as simple as you that.

Maybe this is a clue, aside from your severe educational deficiencies, as to why no one like you. Self interest. You talk about “the cost of society”, but you really just want some dumber f.ucks to repair your sewer line at no cost to you.

You should probably go into politics, Pumps. You’d meet lots of people like yourself. Dumb and narcissistic.

You trying to help a brother out? I am neither right as of two weeks ago. I was full time at last job for 4 years but originally 1099 contract for 2 years before they hired me. Let’s just say my daily rate had a 9 handle on it. I know both sides of the coin. Today, you will find almost exclusively W-2 and hourly rate quotes. Recruiters have the audacity to quote $70/hr and mention there is a “benefits” package. I have them send it over first for my review. Last week, I saw they offered medical at $375 for family HDP. I misread it first and thought it was monthly. I was like “great”. I looked again and saw they were quoting per week! I was floored. The girl said “yes, we don’t cover much of premium” There was no vacation and only access to 401k, no real match. I asked the guy to raise hourly rate based on nearly zero benefits in the “benefits” package. Never heard back. Welcome to the new world. It was not this way years ago for skilled professionals. There is no leverage at all.

The sewer issue has always been that they changed the rules mid game because they didn’t have the balls to raise taxes. So they knowingly know only a small percentage of the city population will get hit with this problem in a given year….meaning, give a few homeowners a 12,500 bill as opposed to giving everyone a slight increase in their tax bill. God bless the people living pay check to pay check when they get hit with this bill that should have been paid collectively as opposed to individually.

It was always paid for collectively, don’t change the rules because you don’t have the balls to raise taxes.

That’s why I admire Murphy, he has the balls to tell you like it is. He knows you have to raise taxes and isn’t lying about it. If you think we can just starting cutting everything and not take down our state economy, you are insane. And his progressive ideas are all just investments in this state and the middle class.

Hot girlfriend, no kids
Big house in Long Island
Gardener that showed up twice a week paid from my $110/hour consulting gig.
4 cars ’72 El Camino, ’77 Camaro, Chevy SUV, Mustang convertible
Attended lots of Yankees games, including both rounds of playoffs and World Series.
Dinners in NYC often, on the company.
Summer Weekends on the South Shore or Newport
Ski condo for four weeks that year.

Yeah, if I was smart I would have had a snot-nosed kid, a huge mortgage and tax bill, and live on a highway by that age. You win Pumps.

You grew up in a much more forgiving economy than I did, and what did you have at 38?

By the way, you get phenomenal internet access on your flip phone. It’s remarkable. I hope the hipsters don’t notice. Flip phones might become cool again.

It’s either that or you spend the entire day on the internet via laptop/tablet/smart phone. I’m not sure, it’s tough to figure out. Maybe your senior self is a millennial at heart. You’re so old you’re retro?

joyce – something down there is in a sailor’s knot once again, methinks.

I’ve stated many times that I carry a flip phone for voice only, I enjoy a free service from my provider whereby they block all texts, including yours. If anyone needs me, they call me and talk to me. Like I’ve told you before, it’s an exclusive list. Your application is denied. Sorry. Try Pumps.